The subject invention relates to the production of mailpieces. More particularly it relates to mailpieces where the delivery address is not imprinted on the mailpiece in human readable form and which is produced without disclosure of the delivery address to the party producing the mailpiece, and to methods and systems for producing such mailpieces. (The term "mailpiece" as used herein means a letter or package or other item intended for delivery by a postal service or similar organization and may sometimes refer to an envelope or label to be filled or applied at a later point in the production process.)
Mailing lists are critical to the operation, if not the survival, of organizations such as catalogue sales companies, charities, etc. A large list of well qualified prospects can cost thousands of dollars to generate and can have great value to such organizations. The generation and sale of such lists is a substantial and growing business.
Protecting the value of such lists is, however, difficult. Unlike customer lists, use of a mailing list inherently involves its wide distribution. Not only are the delivery addresses imprinted on the mailpieces in human readable form but, more importantly, production of a large mailing will typically involve access by a mail production system computer to the mailing list. The computer of course can easily make any number of copies of the mailing list. Thus sellers must price mailing lists to earn a return with only a few sales, buyers are unwilling to pay a premium for exclusivity, and mailers find that the competitive advantage obtained by developing lists is rapidly lost.
Other situations where it can be desirable to produce mailpieces without disclosing the delivery address to the party producing the mailpieces also exist. For example, a company may want to have its vendors ship directly to its customers without disclosing the identity of the customers to the vendors.
Thus it is an object of the subject invention to provide a mailpiece which is not imprinted with a delivery address in human readable form and methods and systems for producing such a mailpiece without disclosing the delivery address to the party producing the mailpiece.